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> Has any company the size of Google ever successfully pulled of this sort of diversification?

How many companies the size of Google are NOT heavily diversified? Think GE, 3M, etc.



Is Wal-Mart diversified? Is Exxon Mobil? Bank of America?


> Is Wal-Mart diversified?

I know that you thought you were providing a counterexample (which is odd, since I wasn't making some kind of universal claim) but yeah, they are. Branching into groceries represented a pretty bold diversification. I'm pretty sure they've talked about even providing banking services. They're about as diversified as a dedicated brick and mortar retailer can possibly be, and it's not hard to see why: they control their existing niches and they want to continue growing.


I wasn't aiming for a counterexample so much as an illustration of the fact that whether a company is diversified or not is a matter of definition.

Is a company diversified if it operates in related markets in the same sector, like a bank that does retail and business banking? Is a company diversified if operations outside their core business are only a small fraction of their turnover, like an oil company that has a small renewables operation?

If the purpose of diversification is to keep the company afloat if there's a downturn in one market, these properties are important. Being in retail and business banking won't help if the entire banking sector has problems, and 1% of your business won't keep you afloat if the other 99% of your business is sinking.




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